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Tag: Jesus is alive

  • CHRIST IS TRULY ALIVE

    CHRIST IS TRULY ALIVE

    April 10, 2023 – Monday within the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041023.cfm)

    Truth can indeed be easily manipulated or even covered especially when those who are faced with truth become threatened and disturbed by it. This is what we have heard on this Easter Monday as told to us by the Gospel of Matthew. The truth about the resurrection of Jesus was manipulated by people in power who also desired to advance their personal agenda. The soldiers who were witnesses of the Resurrection were paid not to tell what really happened but to create another story. These soldiers must have been captivated with awe and wonder in the event of the resurrection. Light must have pierced into their unbelieving hearts. However, what was sad in their story was when they were presented with the immediate comfort of money.

    They were willing to cover the truth of the resurrection and create fake news for the sake of money. They accepted a corrupt offer to spill the untruth to people rather than to tell others of God’s power and mercy. Why was that? Is money more powerful than God? Certainly not. It is just deceiving and very tempting especially when people need it.

    Nevertheless, apart from this sad story, we still have the women who showed to us how the resurrection of Jesus changed their life. The Gospel tells us that they were still fearful yet overjoyed. This means that despite the darkness they have experienced in the past days and the fear that enveloped them, the presence of Jesus filled them with so much joy.

    The women did not succumbed to despair and fear unlike the soldiers who succumbed to money and corruption. The women continued to believe in Jesus in spite of the confusions and even in pain and suffering that they witnessed. They never lost their hope in Jesus.

    This kind of attitude in them was showed in their action as they went to the tomb early in the morning. The tomb surely would remind them of the death of Jesus, meaning, of sadness and failure, of pain and disappointment. However, even in the midst of all of these, they found a reason to find light in the midst of darkness, to find hope in the midst of hopelessness and to find life in the midst of death.

    And true enough, as they desired to see Jesus, they indeed saw and witnessed the glory of resurrection. This was how they also found their mission, and that was to be Jesus’ witnesses to others.

    Now, as Jesus called them to tell other disciples about him, each of us now too is called to tell others of Jesus’ presence in our very life. With this, there are two invitations for us on this Easter Monday.

    First. Money is not everything though money and riches can be deceiving and tempting when we are in need of it, that it will lead us to become dishonest, corrupt and abusive. This happened to the soldiers who exchanged for money the truth. They settled for their own comforts. However, that did not made them truly rich or satisfied with life. In fact, they are now seen like the “paid trolls” who merely repeat lies and fake news to deceive others and bring others to corruption and death.

    Second, preach Christ and preach what is only true. Never be afraid to tell what we have seen, what we have heard and what we have witnessed. Tell others not just through our words but also through our actions that Christ is truly alive. Even a simple gesture of generosity to a person in need or a simple act of kindness to others is a way of sharing that Christ is truly alive in us. Kabay pa.

  • IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE RISEN LORD

    IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE RISEN LORD

    Footsteps.

    When we walk, we hardly take cognizant of the footsteps we take unless – like the Buddhists – we are so mindful of the here and now, the precious present moment.  It is only when one focuses on the movement of his feet while walking down a path, that one is struck with the importance of taking footsteps.  For as the Chinese proverb posits: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!

    As we celebrate Easter Sunday today, it might do as good to reflect on the value of taking footsteps vis-à-vis our faith as followers of the Risen Lord. After all, his admonition – “Come follow me!” – involves literally moving our feet as we go after the Redeemer!

     Jesus lived on earth at a time when people could only move from place to place by walking. In some cases, horses and donkeys assisted them as they travelled. Unlike today when the advancement of transportation technology allows us to travel long distance through planes, boats, trains, buses, cars, even the lowly habal-habal, those living in the first century had to rely on their feet if they wanted to be in another place.

    Being an itinerant preacher-healer, Jesus himself walked practically all over Israel. While born in Bethlehem, he grew up in Nazareth. When his public life unfolded and he went out to preach the Good News, he travelled from Nazareth to Bethany, Bethesda, Capernaum, Cana of Galilee, Jerico, reaching the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. In his three-year public life, he walked more than a thousand miles.

    Some of the footsteps he took would take on biblical significance! Among these were those footsteps traversing the desert for forty days when he needed to get ready for his mission, his walk cum ride-the-donkey from the countryside to Jerusalem, his walk across the seashore as he met the fishermen who would become his loyal followers and later when he appeared to them after rising from the dead, and his walk with two forlorn followers on the road to Emmaus.

    The most dramatic, of course, were the footsteps he took from the garden of Gethsemane to the palace of King Herod, to the court of Pontius Pilate until he ended up on Calvary Hill. This route  – now labelled the Via Dolorosa –  has become the focal point of interest for tourists who fortunately find their way in Israel on Good Friday. 

    On top of this mournful hill, the carpenter from Nazareth – reviled by the Pharisees as a false prophet;  who hobnobbed with drunks, sinners and prostitutes;  who the powers-that-be considered a rebel out to subvert the established regime and tortured by the Roman soldiers as a means to warn other potential would-be “terrorists,” – was subjected to a crucifixion on a cross, fit for criminals!

    That last step Jesus took as he faced death, eventually ended his earthly life.

    At dawn of Eastern morn, the sound of footsteps echoed across the graveyard where Jesus and others were buried. These were footsteps first of women, later followed by a few of the more courageous apostles curious as to the women’s testimony that the tomb was empty! And most interesting, it was a woman – Magdalene – to whom Jesus first appeared as the Risen Lord!

    After Jesus appeared to more of his main followers and trusted disciples, he gathered them together for what is now known as the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and left them with these words:  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

    Gifted with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, many of them, including a new convert – Paul of Tarsus – walked to many directions beyond Israel to give witness to the life and teachings of the Lord.  And despite the passage of time and the great advancement of transportation technology, in many Third World countries today, those who bring the Good News to the hinterlands, follow the way of the early disciples. They walk miles to reach the isolated villages.

    It is thus, very appropriate that in 2021 Pope Francis inaugurated what would be a synodal Church for these present times. To be a synodal church involves getting all the baptized to journey together as one in the footsteps of the Lord, with great effort exerted to make sure that those who for so long have not been afforded a place in the Lord’s banquet, can finally find themselves in the place of honor!

    This was Jesus way; moving from village to village, his focus was to journey with his society’s excluded, the sinners considered unclean and worthless. He avoided the elite, the powers-that-be, the ones who oppressed the poor even as he did not exclude them from his circle if they showed an openness to repent and make amends!  He disdained pomp and pageantry, he lived simply without benefit of having a place to stay, comforted the widows and healed the sick. In the process, the Good Shepherd smelt like the sheep!

    Alas, when Christianity shifted to Christendom and the Church’s memory of the way of life of Jesus faded, the ugly head of institutionalization and clericalism penetrated the walls of churches, monasteries and convents. Patronized by kings and emperors. ensconced in palaces to enjoy the perks of power, the Church’s heads veered away from the footsteps of the Lord! And the Gospels they preached held no relevance anymore to the lives of the majority who remained in the margins and disenfranchised of their human rights.

    If the Church today hopes to return to the dangerous memory of Jesus’ act to save humanity, she has to embrace Pope Francis’ synodal agenda. The question is: how many of our  church leaders and engaged laity are making sure that this agenda is not lost in the quadmire of a Church’s struggle to remain relevant in these post-modern times?

    In the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) reality of the world today, Christianity is faced with a major challenge to return to its roots. Jesus presented the model of a synodal church – his footsteps made possible his journeying with society’s excluded – which challenged an established religion that was hijacked by those who would promote a faith that was blind and obedient to those in power. It was in this context that Christianity was born. If we are to redeem what Jesus founded, we, too, in our times will need to do our best to help build a synodal Church, in spite of the reluctance of our leaders to forge this kind of journey with the rest of us!

    Along with Pope Francis, we take the footsteps towards this goal buoyed by the Risen Lord! Happy Easter everyone!    

  • When the Lord opens our heart

    When the Lord opens our heart

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    May 17, 2020 – Monday of the 6th Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051820.cfm)

    “Lydia” is a very popular name among women. Lydia with its Greek origin, actually means “kind.” And among the many Lydias I met, there was one particular Lydia that I could not forget.

    I met “Nanay Lydia,” as what she was commonly called by many, in one of my mission areas when I was still a seminarian. Nanay Lydia was a simple old woman, widowed but surrounded by her children and grandchildren who loved he very much. Despite her poverty, she was the first one to offer her humble home to accommodate us, missionaries.

    It was in her home that I experienced, that joy and contentment in life is very possible even with less material things but filled with love. She was very much cherished by her children and grandchildren. She was highly respected by their neighbors. And as I stayed in her humble house for few days, I received so much kindness from her.

    “Kindness expressed in her grateful response to people around her was her way of life.”

    This attitude from Nanay Lydia is found in her knowledge of the Lord. Her knowledge of the Lord was not out of theological studies but through her experiences of pain and joy, sorrow and comfort, and of death and life. And according to her, she brought all these experiences always into her prayers. This was how she would see things clearly, feel and be comforted of God’s presence in her life. Through her prayers, she listened to God, who also opened her heart.

    This woman reminds me of another Lydia, whom the Acts of the Apostles speaks today. Lydia was one of the women who listened to Paul’s preaching. She was particularly described as a God-fearing woman. However, what was more interesting was her attitude to Paul’s preaching. She listened.

    She welcomed what Paul was saying and by doing that, the Lord opened her heart. It was not her who opened her heart to the Lord. That small inclination from her “in listening” allowed the Lord to come into her heart and opened her heart.

    And when the Lord opened her heart, she began to see clearly how God worked in her life through the preaching of Paul. As a response, she asked for baptism, meaning, she wanted to commit her life to the Lord who opened her heart. Her commitment now was transformed into a generous and grateful action. She welcomed the Apostles, Paul and his companions into her home.

    This is how the Gospel of John is being unfolded to us today also. The Spirit of Truth that Lydia received made her a witness of God’s kindness. Because of the kindness that she experienced from Jesus, reflected in her name, Lydia, she too was inspired to become a witness of that kindness. Her generous and hospitable action to Paul and his companions was a grateful response to God’s kindness.

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    This is the invitation for us today. We are also called to allow the Lord to open our hearts. It is when we listen to God speaking to us through our Sacraments in the Church, through the Bible, through our experiences and daily affairs with the world, that we allow God to challenge us to see God’s surprises in our life.

    Hopefully, as we allow God to open our heart, then, we too will be moved to become a witness of God’s kindness, or goodness or faithfulness to others. Thus, let that be expressed in our actions and words as we struggle today to live in this prolonged community quarantine. This kind of witnessing is very much needed today. This very difficult situation may inspire us then, to become true witnesses of the Resurrected Christ. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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  • Life amidst and after COVID-19

    Life amidst and after COVID-19

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    May 17, 2020 – Sixth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051720.cfm

    Life under quarantine is without a doubt, difficult. For almost a quarter of the year 2020 now, we find our world on lockdown amid pandemic realities. Definitely these are trying and uncertain times for all of us, humanity as the world we live in is now sick and under serious threat. We find ourselves now limited and deprived – reduced to mere essentials. As we adapt to the challenges of our today’s changing world, we cannot help but be somehow resigned to the possibility that “our life ahead will never be the same again”. And as we also discern with the “new” normal with its required distancing, limited mobility and isolation that would greatly affect our social relations and dealings, we also grapple with basic question: “Is and will there be Life amidst and after COVID-19 2020?”

    Recently a Youtube video-clip called “The Great Realisation” by Probably Tomfoolery about Life in 2020 Pandemic world have circulated around and caught the attention of the social media. Here in a poetic bedtime story manner, and at the hindsight, the father tells the story and describes to his son the causes and effects of COVID-19 virus to humanity. While it projects and promises a much better humane and personal relationships among peoples in our tomorrow’s world,  particularly the following conversion in the video is worth pondering…

    Son: But why did it take a virus to bring the people back together?

    Dad: Sometimes you got to get sick, my boy, before you start feeling better.

    Sometimes you got to get sick, my boy, before you start feeling better.

    Such a profound wisdom. Definitely in changing world during these trying times, our life will never be the same again, …. but our life will be much better and anew than before. And part and parcel of this change for the better life is the virus and sickness that we have to go through and overcome in preparation for our better life-ahead.

    As St. Peter suggests, “better suffer doing good than doing evil”, the bitter herb/taste of medicine, painful injections, the life-threatening surgery, the chemotherapy treatment, dialysis or regiment of blood transfusion – the whole sickness we go through is part of the whole healing process towards our well-being, and better lifestyle.    This is paradox of our life: Our present trials, sufferings, difficulties and uncertainties in life do prepare and brings out the best and  better version in us. In other words, “Sometimes we got to get sick to start to get better.”

    In preparing them for the suffering ahead, Jesus in our gospel challenges his disciples to keep His commandment, which is to love one another as He has loved them. Here Jesus did not only warn his disciples of the coming difficulties His persecution, suffering and death will cause them, but also prepares them the implications and responsibilities of His coming resurrection. And for Jesus, His commandment of “Loving one another” is the key essential attitude and necessary behavior for His disciples, and us now to surpass the difficulties and challenges of His cross and resurrection into our constantly changing  lives.  

    Our love and loving, however, must be “as I have loved you”, which is thus to be done in the same way and as patterned in Jesus’ way of loving us. Unlike our way of loving, Jesus’ way of love also somehow involves patience, distancing and separation, which is usually painful for us. Though His love is personal, intimate and constant, His love is not exclusively for you but to all,  not clingy – too attached “Touch me not” and even provides space and time as we experience it in His seeming absence, separation and distance, as well as in His unpredictable timing. While His love offers us the mystery of  Joy, Light and Glory in life, His love also requires the painful and suffering mystery of our sorrows in loving others. 

    Jesus’ commandment of “Loving one another as He has loved us” would also mean the paradox of resurrection through our cross – meaning “the way to our salvation is the way of the cross”.  Resurrection to new life happens then through the sorrowful mystery of our cross in loving others. In the same manner, reflected here is the life-paradox of sickness before getting better, of pain and suffering towards healing, of rising to the occasion despite difficulties and uncertainties in life. 

    Now as to our musings: “Is there Life during Covid-19? Will there be Life after Covid-19?”

    For those who have faith and trust in Jesus and in God, and who is keeping the Lord’s commandment of “loving others as He has loved us”, along with our faith-life struggle with His cross and resurrection in life, getting better and rising to the occasion of our best and better version of our world despite difficulties and uncertainties, there is and will be life during and after COVID19 2020. However, our life will never be the same again, for without a doubt, our Life then is and will be anew and better than  before. 

    May our love  for one another now, promising though painful it can be, cooperate with the Lord’s healing ways of creating and building our better world in  our life ahead. Amen. 

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

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  • Having friends? Or being a friend?

    Having friends? Or being a friend?

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    May 15, 2020 Friday 5th Week of Easter – Memorial of St. Isidore the Farmer

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051520.cfm)

    How many friends do you have in your Facebook account? Or in your other social media accounts? Certainly, those who have fb account or accounts have hundreds of friends. Others even have a thousand or more friends. Well, a Facebook account has a limit of 5000 friends. But, do we really consider every person there, in our account, as a “friend?”

    Today, the word “friend” is differently understood. Our friends in our social media accounts are actually our contacts. However, having those “friends” does not mean that we have a personal relationship with them. Perhaps, to some people, but mostly, we don’t, because among the thousands of friends we have, many can be are acquaintances at school, at work, business or during our summer vacations and trips.

    It has become so common to have such tendency to accumulate friends, to make and have friends, to be socially connected with others through the internet, and to be identified by the people to whom we make contacts.

    Aside from this, there is also another form making friends which can be toxic. It means that such form of relationship is only based on advancing one’s self-interest. Such form of friendship is commonly called as “alliance.” Such alliance protect and promote one another’s interest no matter how selfish and oppressive it could be. It does not look on how one will be able to give life to other in a self-sacrificing manner. It is inclined on what and how I could benefit, gain favor and advance my interests and agenda.

    Thus, we might have become more conscious of having friends, affiliate or make an ally ourselves with others rather than “being a friend.”

    To have friends and to be a friend have different natures. To have friends has the tendency to be self-absorbed, self-conscious and selfish because this attitude looks inward. However, to be a friend is an action that comes with commitment. It is self-giving and self-sacrificing. Hence, this attitude is other-oriented and life-giving.

    This is the kind of friendship that Jesus is talking about in the Gospel. Jesus calls each of us to be his friends. The friendship that Jesus offers is self-giving and self-sacrificing. Jesus commits himself to us as our friend. His commitment is summed up in his love for you and for me by offering himself to the cross on our behalf. 

    Thus, the friendship of Jesus is not about using us or so that he may get something from us. His friendship with us is about giving oneself. Through this friendship, he calls us as his friends, not slaves, not mere acquaintances or contacts, or allies.

    This is how we remember today St. Isidore, a Spanish Farmer who was a friend to many, to humans and to animals. His simplicity and hard labor became a way where he grew in his friendship with the Lord. It was said that he would always spend much time in the Church to commune with Jesus. And as the story about him circulated, an angel would instead plow the field while Isidore was in the Church. Other miracle stories became popular also as Isidore would give his bread to the hungry without running out of supply of bread.

    These stories tell us that such friendship with Jesus makes us more aware of the needs of others. Moreover, to become a friend of Jesus makes us a friend to everybody. With Isidore, he was a great friend who gave life to people and to the nature.

    St. Isidore, the Farmer (image from Aleteia.com)

    This is Jesus’ invitation to each of us now, that you and me will grow in that friendship with Him. Thus, we are called to develop our personal and intimate friendship with Jesus through our constant “chats” expressed through our prayers and this Eucharist. Friendship grows when we come to know each other both our pain and joys, failures and dreams. 

    And because this friendship gives life, our friendship with Jesus should also inspire us “to become real friends with others.” Yes, you and me who are friends of Jesus are called to be a friend of everyone and to express the same love that we have felt from Jesus by giving ourselves too, to “shout out” the goodness that the Lord has revealed to us and “to post what’s on our mind and heart” so that others may know and grow also in their friendship with Jesus.

    In times such as this pandemic, our friendship could be one of the best comforts we could offer to those who are distressed, anxious and in need. Thus, maximize also this Community Quarantine by making sure that you parents will become best friends of your children, and children to their parents, siblings to siblings, and to the rest of the people around you.

    So, friends of Jesus – go and be a friend to others!

    Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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